Celebrating 3 years of Musings (NSFW)

Today, when I opened Facebook, I had one of those “memories” reminders with the very first photo I shared of the “Musings” series, posted 3 years ago. And I couldn’t let go this date, without saying a few words. Well… maybe more than a few, because this a delicate and passioned theme, about which I can easily go on for hours. But let me try keeping it short…

3 years… that was fast! I’ve said once and I’ll say it again, one of the reasons this is such a dear project/photo series, is because of what I’ve learned with it, and I’m not talking as a photographer now, I’m talking as a human being.

When I first started it, my goal was to show that I could make nude photos, without crossing that thin line between vulgar and beautiful.

But what I learned along the way, as I was meeting and shooting women that were total strangers to me (and even when I shot some friends), was what transformed this series into a very interesting learning process to me. A learning process about women’s intimacy, about their frailties, about their fears and insecurities and about how the image they have of their own bodies, affects the way they are as human beings.

Another thing I learned and that surprised me the most, was the reason why some women didn’t want to participate in this series. I would totally be ok, if they denied my invitation because they didn’t like the type of photos I was doing or because they didn’t trust me enough, that would be totally understandable. But what astonished me, was that roughly 90% of the women who refused to participate in this series, did it because of what other people could think, if they ever saw the photos.

I obviously respect their position, but I can’t help but think how these apparently “small things”, these “small restrictions” we impose ourselves, condition us as individuals. I mean, what type of human being could we be, if we were not conditioned by what other people might think/say of the things we do? (and for the sake of this argument, let’s all assume we are talking about legal stuff, ok?)

As for me, I intend to keep this series going, to keep learning about women and eventually, to somehow, help people understand that a body, is just a body. It’s the vessel of our soul, if you want to get philosophical. It’s the “thing” that holds our organs and that helps us doing whatever our mind wants us to. And it can be something extremely beautiful as well. That’s why painters, sculptors, writers, musicians and many other artists, have been making masterpieces inspired by it for centuries and centuries.

And as a final note, I couldn’t finish this post, without expressing my gratitude to all the women who have taken part of this series. It doesn’t matter if you did it in an anonymous or public way, I’m deeply grateful for the trust you've placed in me, for the experiences some of you shared and for allowing me to share with the world, how beautiful Women are. Ladies, THANK YOU!